Spam, Scam, Or Something Else?

I have my email filters set to the highest level, which means that everything that doesn't come from someone in my contact list ends up in the Junk folder. Last night that Junk folder held a message with the subject line '2021 contribution report'. I almost deleted it with the rest of the spam, but something about this message felt different. I opened it, and saw that it was professionally written. No spelling or grammar issues.

The email contained a forwarded message, which came from a company asking for some information for their accountant to use for year-end purposes. The woman who sent it on to me copied the original sender in her reply, and said she was forwarding the request to someone who was working on the information.

Nothing about the message felt like a scam, but I know that con artists can be very tricky. The signature line of the woman who forwarded the message to me indicated she was a Methodist pastor. I searched for the name of the church, which was real. I also did a search of the company name in the original message, which gave me two options-a funeral home and a company that made granite monuments for cemeteries. Both made sense in this scenario. If someone was trying to pull a fast one over on me, I don't think they'd go to so much work.

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Based on the information I learned I decided to contact the pastor and tell her the message had been misdirected. If things were revered, I would like to know that the intended recipient didn't get the information. An hour later I received another message from her, thanking me.

I love a story with a happy ending!